While reading Forbes article on HP's Sprout computer, I decided I would give writing my thoughts and feelings on any technology articles that I find interesting enough to talk about. It's something to try out, but it should make my blog a bit more active, seeing that the only active part would be Linux testing/tinkering.
Without further ado, let's begin!
The article I've read is Forbes' "If Da Vinci Had A Desktop, It Would Be HP's $1,899 Sprout".
While I was scrolling through articles on Google Play Newsstand, the image caught my eye, as it depicts (presumably) an artist writing in cursive with his finger on a white mat (I later found out that it was an artist while viewing the article on the desktop). The article title was probably next to capture my attention, as I was wondering what the author meant.
I got a better understanding of the Srout as I began to read the article - the Sprout is an all-in-one computer that uses a combination of touch-screen and a special mat. The mat sits in front of the Sprout and has sensors inside it to capture input (fingers/styli), while also being the area for the embedded projector to project the digital workspace.
Above the monitor is a fixture that houses the camera and projector that scans and displays the workspace, respectively.
The two main sources of input for any digital artist is a mouse and/or graphics tablet (using either or both); I, myself, have a graphics tablet made by Wacom, so I'm pretty familiar with how it feels to use the graphics tablet as a source of input.
I thought it is a pretty interesting concept, and thought the price was a bit steep for something of that sort, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem that bad of a price. More specifically, it has a touch-screen all-in-one computer, a "scanner", a projector, a "graphics tablet", and a customized version of Windows 8.1 (presumably) all into one package (technically two counting the mat); I'm sure building something similar would come out to around the same price, which is why I call it a fair price.
I don't particularly like the fact that the projected display and the monitor is a mirrored view, although I do understand why it is, and while most of the things can be done with the touch-screen, the touch-screen doesn't have the pressure sensitivity that the mat does.
While I do like the ideas, I feel that I'd rather stick with a graphics tablet (most of Wacom's tablets have touch capability) and all-in-one, as it pretty much would be the same thing. I'd definitely like to play with it, but I wouldn't buy it and probably wouldn't recommend it either.
It's impossible to say how the sales will go, but I think it'll be a niche market - artists looking for a new computer and technology-collectors being the presumed main buyers.
The video (as stated in the article) shows the system in action, and is why I think it's not much different from using a graphics tablet (that accepts touch input), though the "scanner" is something different from the usual flat-bed scanners that can only scan 2D objects.
Again, it's an interesting idea, but I think it could definitely be improved to become "truly new", but it just seems slightly gimmicky to me.
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